[stressandsheepy]

I mean, why am i not satisfied?
Some time ago i spent a great amount of time going through everything on the internet i could find, especially here, regarding a portable rig. I were, and still am, a casual, non expert, but enthusiastic music listener, and i had some money to invest in headphones and portable amp.
After long time evaluation, i went with the 650 and the predator, the latter being my first choice. But after + 300 hours of listening, i still am not satisfied. I hear a veil, a fluffy sound, the details are poor and distant, the voices are covered by instruments.
I'm not happy, i'm troubled. And i want to make it right.
So i'm asking here, in the place where it all began, how you think i can improve my listening.
By changing the headphones? By changing my lod ALO Cryo 22g cable (can this be the weakest link?).
 
Is there any happy predator owner who claims his listening experience is truly appreciated and want to suggest his configuration?
I've been thinking about trading my 650s with some denon ad5000, but living in the countryside in italy and not having much connections i don't have the possibility to listen to them, so i'm relying on suggestions, sincere opinions and advice.
 
Thanks to everyone who'll share his thoughts.

 

[AlfredWong]

HD650 requires much longer time to open up, for me... 1,500 hrs.
I notice that the RSA Predator is only receiving 5V of voltage. With my limited knowledge in circuit and component design, I advice you to try the HD650 on dedicated desktop size amp/DAC before giving a haste judgement, the HD650 is very good as long as it had ran in and the source is good.
 

 

[Digital-Pride]

The HD650 and RSA's portables are probably not a great match as his amps tend to have a darker sound signature(from what I've read).  As Alfred has suggested, the HD650 require that quality desktop amp and source to really shine.  A portable player(with some exceptions) and portable amp is not really going to cut it.

 

[glc]

Quote:

I mean, why am i not satisfied?
Some time ago i spent a great amount of time going through everything on the internet i could find, especially here, regarding a portable rig. I were, and still am, a casual, non expert, but enthusiastic music listener, and i had some money to invest in headphones and portable amp.
After long time evaluation, i went with the 650 and the predator, the latter being my first choice. But after + 300 hours of listening, i still am not satisfied. I hear a veil, a fluffy sound, the details are poor and distant, the voices are covered by instruments.
I'm not happy, i'm troubled. And i want to make it right.
So i'm asking here, in the place where it all began, how you think i can improve my listening.
By changing the headphones? By changing my lod ALO Cryo 22g cable (can this be the weakest link?).
 
Is there any happy predator owner who claims his listening experience is truly appreciated and want to suggest his configuration?
I've been thinking about trading my 650s with some denon ad5000, but living in the countryside in italy and not having much connections i don't have the possibility to listen to them, so i'm relying on suggestions, sincere opinions and advice.
 
Thanks to everyone who'll share his thoughts.

I have tried the 650 through my SR71A, PICO, Xin, Predator and did not like the sound. Pretty much the same complaints you have. I then tried it through my Phoenix and EF-5. It sounded better with more power, but I still reached for my He-6 and He5LE first. Got a balanced cable and tried it again on the Phoenix. Better, but still liked the other headphones better. Recently got a Little Dot MKIV SE tube amp. The 650 sounds better than it ever has, but they still do not compare to the HE-6 or HE-5LE when talking about veil, fluffy sound and detail. 
 
YMMV, you can spend the money on a desktop amp to drive the 650, but my opinion is that sometimes you just need to change headphones because the sound signature does not suit the listener. I say reach out to people on the forum that are in your general vicinity to see if anyone has a good desktop set up that you can listen & maybe you can decide for yourself. I would recommend that you certainly try tubes if you can.
 

 

[stressandsheepy]

I'm going to give the combo some more time to improve, I'll let you know how it goes with time. Thanks.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
Sounds like you're not a fan of warm, dark signature headphones.
 
See if someone will swap you a HD600 for your HD650 ~ you'll
probably enjoy the more neutral presentation, it's my personal
preference over the HD650.
 
Even see if a store somewhere in Italy will take a trade-in
on a pair of HD600's.

 

[stressandsheepy]

Quote:

 
Sounds like you're not a fan of warm, dark signature headphones.
 
See if someone will swap you a HD600 for your HD650 ~ you'll
probably enjoy the more neutral presentation, it's my personal
preference over the HD650.
 
Even see if a store somewhere in Italy will take a trade-in
on a pair of HD600's.

By all means it seems i am not. I've read something about the difference in sound signature between the 650 and the 600. It's a way. The other is trying the Denon or the Beyerdinamic, i guess.